Ralph Vaughan Williams in Brook Green - 12 December, 1930

from Letter from Vaughan Williams to Holst, December 1930, page 75:

The opera gave me quite a new idea - the concert opera: sit round a table with copies & sing with a minimum of action (no costumes). I thought it was a perfect representation. Do you think there's a little bit too much 6/8 in the opera? I wonder if Nigel Playfair would do it at his light opera season. But I dare say you've thought of that. The one thing I can't yet quite get hold of is 'Hammersmith' - but you are (like your daughter) a realist & you are almost unique in that your stuff sounds better when it is played on the instrument it was originally written for.

cite as

Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams, Letter from Vaughan Williams to Holst, December 1930. In Imogen Holst and Ursula Vaughan Williams (ed.), Heirs and rebels (London, ), p. 75. https://led.kmi.open.ac.uk/entity/lexp/1406889458166 accessed: 28 March, 2024

location of experience: Brook Green

Listeners

Ralph Vaughan Williams
Composer
1872-1958

Listening to

hide composers
First run-throughs of new works, the Choral Fantasia, The Wandering Scholar and Hammersmith
written by Gustav Holst
performed by St. Paul's Girl's School Orchestra and soloists

Experience Information

Date/Time 12 December, 1930
Medium live
Listening Environment in the company of others, in private, indoors

Originally submitted by isobel.1111 on Fri, 01 Aug 2014 11:37:38 +0100
Approved on Sun, 13 Mar 2016 13:20:22 +0000